Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Monday, June 8, 2020

Minako Yoshida -- Soto wa Minna(外はみんな)


Well, it was pretty much as expected. Premier Ford announced today that everybody in Ontario except for the urban areas in the Golden Horseshoe including Toronto, that region hugging the western end of Lake Ontario, can start opening up the shops and restaurants as of this Friday. The GTA will have to wait at least another week to see if our infection rates decrease enough to warrant our turn at re-opening.


Going way back in the illustrious career of Minako Yoshida(吉田美奈子)to check out the first track in her debut album "Tobira no Fuyu"(扉の冬...The Door's Winter)released in September 1973. Despite the title and somewhat pensive expression on the 20-year-old Yoshida's face on the cover, "Soto wa Minna" (Everyone's Outside) has got oodles of summer warmth.

Yoshida wrote and composed all of the tracks and she's backed up by the band Caramel Mama(キャラメル・ママ)which would later get its name change to Tin Pan Alley. So, behind her in recording were former Happy End bandmates Haruomi Hosono(細野晴臣)and Shigeru Suzuki(鈴木茂)on bass/acoustic guitar and electric guitar/percussion respectively with Tatsuo Hayashi(林立夫)on drums and Masataka Matsutoya(松任谷正隆)on organ. Meanwhile, Yoshida herself would handle piano and percussion. However, I would love to know who was taking care of the splendid brass section...that is one reason that the warmth was in there.

With "Soto wa Minna", Yoshida's lyrics seem to talk about getting out there and seizing the day, a sentiment that I figure a lot of people would love to do at this time. There is mention about forests and trees in the song, but "Soto wa Minna" has an arrangement that makes me feel there is some New York City soul, presaging the musical direction that she would take as the decade went by. It's a short and sweet number but it makes for a fine introduction to "Tobira no Fuyu", and as I finish this, I'm already a number of tracks into the album. If at all possible, I will have to add this to the Yoshida collection.

2 comments:

  1. Hello J-Canuck,

    Ah, Minako Yohida...

    If there is such a thing as an "Artist Zero" on my journey to the New Music/City Pop genre, arguably Minako would be it. I found both of these songs,"Tobira no Fuyu" and "Soto no Minna", on an abandoned student webpage on a university website.

    Remember when college students got their own web space (kinda like Geocities) on college servers as a perk?

    Yeah, I'm going way back!

    I first heard of her on a blog by the author Patrick Macias. He put together a little mp3 of City Pop tunes he thought people would like. I noticed he had a few Minako Yoshida songs on it.

    Mostly early 1970s Minako (Flapper era) and I loved it.

    Then the hunt began.

    Then I found these two songs on that old site and, as you stated, the contrast was stark. Some days your looking "Tobira no Fuyu" and sometimes your feeling "Soto wa Minna."

    Then I went into the rabbit hole and never came out. I guess that's why I'm here.

    Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Chasing Showa. It gets worse for me. When I was working at university, I was using MS-DOS on a word processor that became a sensation since it had no fewer than 40 viruses in it when I took it into Computer Services.

      I was in that ancient age when college students didn't even have web spaces. Didn't Facebook begin that way?

      "Tobira no Fuyu" has got some variety to it. I really will have to get that album.

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